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Hillier

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Urban Office Architecture

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d'arch

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Gernot Schulz Architects

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Joseph Greif Architects

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Rafael Vinoly Architects

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Brininstool Lynch

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Void, Inc.

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Urban Office Architecture

Best Interactive Site
Atelier Jean Nouvel

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Jo Franzke Architecten

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Sebastian Gmelin

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Christopher Connock

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Florian Heinzelman and Tobias Hofmann

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Hristina Andreeva

Hillier awarded Gold Medal in 2004 Architecture Web Site Awards

With a website that shows off the firm's philosophy, expertise and impressive portfolio, Hillier (www.hillier.com) received the Gold Medal in Entablature's 2004 Architecture Web Site Awards program. The 2004 Architecture Web Site Awards had more of an international flair this year, as over half of the entries were submitted by European firms. The awards were determined by Stephen Courtney, Mohsen Kurd, Ligeia Uker and Lloyd Unsell, respectively representing the business, design, marketing, and content aspects of web sites. Each web site was reviewed and assigned scores for Visual Design, Content, Organization and Interactivity.

"This year we saw more innovation in the websites which were entered," said Kriss Pettersen, the organizer of the Architecture Web Site Awards. "Unfortunately, some of that innovation overwhelmed the content in a number of sites. In the end, it was a site that presented its information in a clean, straightforward manner that received the top honor."

Hillier's site was designed by HUGE, a New York-based design and marketing agency. HUGE was charged with creating a more human, personal touch to Hillier's website to create a direct connection between the site's visitors and the firm's people. A series of vignettes appears on the website's front page, each showcasing a Hillier leader answering a provocative question about architecture. "Insights", one of the website's main sections, allows visitors to get in-depth information about the architectural process directly from the firm's leading architects. "Hillier has phenomenal case studies such as the Supreme Court Restoration Project," explains HUGE Creative Director David Skokna. "Our goal was to give them a venue for telling those stories."

Four Honor Awards were given, the first to Urban Office Architecture (www.uoa-architecture.com). Ligiea Uker said she "loved everything about this site: design, color, sound, content, organization, interactivity. The design and intuitive navigation draws you in immediately to delve deeper into the site and learn more about UOA." It was also found to be a "phenomenal site design" by Mohsen Kurd, with "a great balance between text and image." Allen Ho's firm, d'arch, (www.d-arch.com) also received an Honor Award as it was praised for its strong identity and continuity through the site's design, color, music and content. Thanhauser Esterson Kapell (www.tek-arch.com) recieved an Honor Award for their site which includes the use of nine boxes as a navigation tool. The fourth Honor Award was given to Gernot Schulz Architects (www.gernotschulzarchitektur.de), an exceptional site according to Mohsen Kurd. "The sound effects are pleasing and the navigation is truly innovative, easy to understand and relevant. The projects include all information required to fully understand, with a great balance between text and image."

Four Merit Awards were also given, the first to Joseph Greif Architects (www.josephgreifarchitects.com) for a site which shows his own personal influence. This site was also rewarded for being simple to follow and well-designed. Rafael Vinoly Architects (www.rvapc.com) was awarded a Merit Award for the moving strips across their website. Lloyd Unsell thought this site had the "best show of projects ever seen". Brininstool Lynch (www.brininstool-lynch.com), received a Merit Award for its well-organized site that also received credit for its simple design. The fourth Merit Award was given to Void, Inc. (www.vazio.com.br), a Brazilian architecture studio, for its ease of navigation and its bilingual option.

The Most Innovative Site Award was given to Urban Office Architecture (www.uoa-architecture.com), also an Honor Award winner. The UOA site was an overwhelming favorite of the judges for its innovative menu structure and content available for each project, which includes not only the people involved with each project, but also the project's program and materials. The Best Interactive Site award was given to Atelier Jean Nouvel (www.jeannouvel.fr) with informative content and a site that does a "good job conveying a lot of information using a simple layout and easy navigation," according to Ligeia Uker. The Best Visual Design Award was given to Jo Franzke Architecten (www.jofranzke.de) for a creative web site that is easy to navigate and is well-composed.

Awards were also given to web sites entered in the Student category. The Student Gold Medal was awarded to Sebastian Gmelin (www.gmelin.li) for his well-designed site . The Student Honor Award went to Christopher Connock (www.christopherconnock.com), whose site has a simple navigation style and includes a visual description of each project. Finally, the Student Merit Award was given to Florian Heinzelman and Tobias Hofmann (www.mise-en-scene.de) for their graduate project at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich.

The jurors found that having more international entries broke away from the typical templates employed by many US architecture firms. Lloyd Unsell found the entries to be "an impressive collection of websites." Ligeia Uker summed up the jurors overall views: "While basic content is fairly consistent throughout many of the websites submitted for this program, they offer a great diversity of ideas surrounding site design, organization, and navigation. In my opinion, the most successful sites have done an excellent job of editing the information presented so that it is concise, relevant, and easily accessible. It is refreshing to see the use of unconventional layouts, color, imagery, and sound to convey a more emotive representation of firm identity, approach to design, project portfolios, and the people behind the work. This approach adds a personal, human element to this digital medium."

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